Takashi Noguchi

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.

Two short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. The first, during a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with a young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as his personal slave to torment Iori. The second follows Sutezo who, forced to serve the barbarous master of a brothel in order to repay his debts, befriends a young girl. Together, they both escape and struggle to get by on scams and petty theft.

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage.

A woman on the run is raped, rescued, then raped again. Escaping, she heads for the hills and finds safe haven at a convent. After becoming a postulant (trainee nun), she catches her fellow sisters engaging in lesbianism, fighting over nothing, hurling snakes at each other, and engaging in mild flesh eating.

A Ronin with a death wish reluctantly joins the Clan of the Forgotten Eight, a nasty crew of ronin who are wrapped up in a clan war over local prostitution.

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

When Honjo is selected as Kansai district's chairman, Iwasa of the rival gang asks Itsuki to do everything possible to have Honjo step down, which puts Itsuki between a rock and a hard place.

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic Games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

Natsu, the older of two sisters, has a relationship with Yonosuke, the local kimono trader. Unlike her more conservative sister Oshichi she tries to use sex as a means to climb to a better social position. To even attempt that she first needs to get out of the Buddhist monastery she is working at...

The three-film saga comes to a conclusion as three leaders of the underworld battle it out to determine who will become Don of Japan.

In the 50s, the complicated life of a popular writer who must share his life with his family, his numerous mistresses and his work

Two historical incidents that deepened the friendship between Japan and Turkey are connected in this story of friendship and compassion: In the night of 16 September 1890 the Turkish frigate Ertuğrul is caught up in a typhoon and sinks off the Japanese coast. Risking their own lives, local villagers are able to rescue 69 Turkish sailors. Although being very poor and having hardly to eat, the villagers share what little they have with strangers from a country 9,000 kilometers away. 95 years later, during the Iran-Iraq War, more than 300 Japanese are stranded in Tehran. In the morning of 19 March 1985 a Turkish Airlines aircraft takes off for Tehran to evacuate the Japanese. But the remaining Turks at Tehran Mehrabad Airport still need to be convinced that they won't be able to board their own country's rescue flight.

Adaptation of Shiro Ozaki's novel.

The seventh in the shocking "Jingi Naki Tatakai" movie series, which exposes the true lives of the yakuza that is hidden by a mask of "jingi". The next stage of this continuing drama is the Kanmon Channel where the Owada and the Kyoei groups are battling for territorial rights and drug smuggling. The Owada sends their man, Tetsu, and his friend Shuji to kill the Kyoei boss. With the promise of fame and riches, Shuji takes the fall and goes to jail for 7 years. But when he's released, he discovers that he and Tetsu have been all but forgotten by the Owada. Feeling betrayed, Shuji takes matters into his own hands and becomes an unsuspecting pawn in an internal conflict and an assassination attempt on the Owada boss. And now angered, Shuji seeks revenge...

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.

A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.

Oryu the Red Peony, a wandering female yakuza on a soul-searching journey after the death of her father. After collecting her sickly follower from jail, she is taken in by a fishing village. Feeling indebted to their generosity, she stays to work for the village and promises to leave her yakuza ways behind. When a dispute breaks out for the gambling rights to a local festival, the villagers are harassed by a gang of thugs. When the harassment turns violent, Oryu must decide wither to keep her promise or protect the villagers.

Coming out of jail and hoping for a quiet life, Yokohama yakuza has to take the lead of his gang after the death of his boss. His small group is is taken in a crossfire between a big yakuza group from Osaka at war with the Tokyo alliance for the control of the city. He tries to keep to the old yakuza code but he is no match for the new thugs who live and fight without honor.

Zenjiro (Masaru Shiga) is a lowlife criminal, roaming the country with his merry band of crooks, gamblers and rapists. When he gets done with his latest escapade of banging a samurai's wife, he finds that his love Okoyo (Eiko Matsuda), has managed to be recruited as one of Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna's (Kantaro Suga) concubines. While attempting to win her back, Zenjiro becomes involved in increasingly murderous palace intrigues.

A serial killing occurs at a port town brothel.

In gangster-infested 1920s Yokohama, gambler Ishiguro gets in with the local gang -- but his view of life changes after the Great Kanto Earthquake.

A Japanese geologist discovers that dinosaurs still exist in caves beneath the surface of a volcanic lake.

This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

Japanese movie.

Convicted of murder, Masayuki Ueda is sent to Hiroshima Prison along with his accomplice. But for a man like him, breaking out of prison is easy.

A Yakuza group from Osaka with dreams of national dominance moves into the snowy Hokuriku region, sparking a bloody turf war with local gangs.

1994 sequel to Satoru Kobayashi's "The Blind Cat". Yakuza drug dealers lure the blind Kiriko into town to take revenge on her. However, Kiriko is a master swordswoman and has plans of her own.

While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.

The most dangerous hired gun in Kyushu's underworld has managed to trigger a vicious gang war, and now, there's a contract on his life. Though nobody is more skilled in the arts of dealing death, can the tattooed hitman fend off the entire Japanese mafia as he searches for the man who wants him dead?

This story is based on the novel "Jo no mai" by Tomiko Miyao which is based on the life of painter Shōen Uemura (1875–1949), the first woman to be awarded the Order of Culture. The title refers to the masterpiece bijinga ("picture of a beautiful woman") that Uemura painted at the age of 61. The main character, Tsuya Shimamura, is born in Kyoto as the second daughter of a tea trader who dies before her birth. Tsuya, who loves painting more than anything and is hopeless at housework, attends art school and at age 15 receives the name Shōsui (from the characters for "pine" and "green") from her teacher. The crown prince of England purchases one of her works, propelling her to fame overnight. The novel portrays the remainder of her stormy life, during which she is impregnated by her teacher and raises a fatherless child; through it all she devotes herself to her painting, undaunted.

Takashi, a bank robber, dreams of his final heist and escaping to Brazil... but in his way, stands a woman that loves him, his dead partner's brother, a corrupt cop, a motorcycle gang and every police officer in the Kanto region.

Former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kaneo's boss Awano and the young Nakahira. Nakahira's men try to extort money from Masatatsu, bringing him in between a yakuza battle.

This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.

Hiroshi, a small-time racketeer, makes a name for himself extorting vulnerable companies and their directors for financial gain.

The third chapter of the ‘Red Peony Gambler’ saga depicts the happiness and sadness of Red Peony Oryu’s life as she seals her femininity with a red peony tattoo and lives in world of chivalry and honor of the yakuza. This story takes place in the middle of the Meiji era in Nagoya. Oryu is wandering the country, training herself to reinstate her family name. With a written recommendation from Kumatora, she appears at the door of the Nishinomaru family. At the same time, the family is preparing for the gambling competition at the Netsuda Shrine Festival, which they have been hosting for generations. Meanwhile, the crooked Kinbara family is plotting to take over the competition. And now Oryu is forced to get involved in the struggle…

An ambitious Kansai yakuza don moves in on Tokyo using financial and political tactics, sparking conflict with a local criminal association.

Joji Kano is a loose cannon cop from backwoods Okinawa, sent to Tokyo to investigate the grisly murder of an Okinawa woman. As he probes deeper into the sleazy world of flesh-peddling, talent agency corruption and mob influence, Kano uncovers the shocking truth.

In the 20th century, the Japanese government exploits prisoners as expendable slave laborers in a coal mine, which results in conflict between the prisoners and the warden to escalate.

The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma is a movie about a haunted blood-thirsty Bakufu officer who might have killed Ryoma Sakamoto.

The Ni Family is the most well know and respected group of firefighters in the Kanto region. When their leader dies and the successor disappears, Tsuruji, a beautiful yet tough geisha, becomes the boss. But will she be able to confront a yakuza gang trying to take over the area?

No description available.

An adaptation of Akira Yoshimura's original suspense novel starring Rentaro Mikuni. 4th year of the Taishō era. About 15 families who moved in search of agricultural land to the land of the pioneers in Hokkaido led a peaceful life. One day, one of the pioneers, Mikio Shimakawa's wife Yura, and her child Taichi are attacked and killed by a bear that cannot hibernate. To resolve the situation, Shimakawa goes against all odds and turns to Ginshiro, the most hated hunter in the village, for help. While Shimakawa was away from the village, Yura and his friends were holding a funeral, the bear attacked again...

The wife of a yakuza lieutenant tries to keep the peace when the clan's heir suddenly dies and a succession conflict threatens to break out.

Ninkyo with Kôji Tsuruta. An elderly yakuza brother tries to clear an underling’s name.

Third part of Nihon Kyokakuden series is set in Kanto in 1924. Ken Takakura playing a ship's mate befriending fish shop owners harassed by yakuza.

Test driver Hayami loses control of his car and rolls over. His company then learns that he has kept secret that he is visually impaired, and he is fired. Without the prospect of returning to his old job he makes a plan to rob several jewelry stores. A few days later, Hayami escapes with stolen goods worth 80 million yen in a violin case on a Kyoto city bus. A wild chase ensues.

Three closely associated gamblers have adventures in Yokohama, Hokkaido, and Macao. Gambling trio endure hardships to rescue Naojiro’s family.

When a mob boss retires under political pressure, his successor and yakuza family are tested to their limits as new alliances and enemies are formed.

Jo has just come back to Japan for the funeral of his parents, who were killed in tribal warfare in Africa where the family had been living throughout most of Jo's life. Once the funeral was over, he missed the boat that was going to take him back home, and, because of an altered itinerary, he ends up stopping in a town for awhile -- striking up an acquaintance with a teenager and her grandfather when he captures their runaway horse. He would have been glad to leave after the proper amenities were completed, but the girl's journalist brother is murdered -- he was getting too close to wrapping a major news story. At that point, Jo and a friend cannot easily drop the matter as though nothing had occurred, and the two start to track down the source of the trouble -- a factory that makes poison gas for Third World buyers. Now their task is to dismantle the operation, prevent one train shipment from arriving at a transfer point, and find the journalist's killer.

The anti-gangster law has been very bad for business, but one yakuza boss is running his syndicate like a ruthless conglomerate -- and thriving.

It is about the life of Ueshiba - the founder of aikido. We can see how he decided to develop aikido and how he did it. We can see why he developed aikido and where he has learned martial arts.

Shimamura is a violent street thug who joins the yakuza & is merciless & unscrupulous on his rise, lacking any sense of either duty or chivalry. When imprisoned, he is repeatedly transferred from one prison to another, because no one can handle him.

A dramatic captivating tale tells of widowed Tei (Junko Fuji), she has become a coalmine operator and is determined to be successful despite mining being a predominately male domain. Overcoming the natural hardships, a more serious threat to Tei and her mine, the menacing presence of rival mining gangs who sense her vulnerability... Nihon jokyo-den:ketto midarw-bana is an outstanding drama, highlighted by wonderful characterizations/performances. Yamashita's excellent direction maintains a rich emotional flow from the opening seconds to the last. Intense and bloody encounters punctuate throughout the engaging multi layered tale!

The fourth film in the Kanto Street Peddlers series. The protagonist, played by Bunta Sugawara sides with female boss Yumiko Nogawa to fight evil Hiroshi Nawa, who at one point employs rebellious young hood Tsunehiko Watase and Kagawa. Tatsuo Umemiya also shows up as a cool, leather jacket gunman who gains Sugawara’s respect despite playing for the opposing team. What eventually keeps this film from being as good as the first is the loose script that doesn’t really tie all the fun stuff into a coherent package. Much is forgiven however when the last 20 minutes arrives with several visually striking set pieces (including one death scene stylized to the point of ridiculousness) and a terrific final massacre. This was Suzuki’s last contribution to the series; the fifth and final picture would be helmed by Takashi Harada.

A story of young students trained to become Kamikaze pilots in World War II.

Low-caste former samurai Hanayama Daikichi and his gambler friend Hanji of Yaizu, come to a once peaceful post town of Kofu. A town now filled with gamblers, prostitutes, and unscrupulous opportunists, all drawn by the smell of blood and the scent of newly-mined gold. Daikichi brings a little girl whose father has been butchered by yakuza assassins, hoping to find her family. Intrigue and violence follow the group as they must ward off a deadly female spy and a mysterious ronin with a violent past. Tension mounts as all these forces come together to unravel a secret which will unleash a wave of violence that could destroy them all.

The last in the series. Sugawara runs into two mahjong cheaters (Ichiro Araki and Mako Midori + sidekick Takuzo Kawatani) whom he takes for friends in need as his naivety prevents him from seeing their true nature.

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely makes ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feelings.

Upon his release from prison, Masa (Bunta Sugawara) is disappointed to not be picked up by his brother Katsu (Tamio Kawaji). After hitching a ride on a bus full of old women, Masa finds out that Katsu tried to fake a car accident and get some money for Masa to live on after prison. Together, the two decide to blackmail the woman (Yoko Horikoshi) who hit Katsu, who happens to be the daughter of a rich company president (Seizaburo Kawazu). 6th film in a series of 8.

Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.

In the roaring 1970s, a man who has left the world of the yakuza to become the owner of a sushi restaurant decides to rise up again when he sees his former family being overrun by a modern yakuza group from the Kansai region.

Tsuruta is a respected tattoo artist working with comrades Machida and Yamashiro. His former boss, who also just happens to be the master who had tattooed the magnificent dragon on Tsuruta’s back, is now a dissolute, bitter drunk living with his son in law and sickly grandson. His daughter, the boy’s mom, is indentured at the brothel run by boss Nakamura and daughter Matsuo. Nakamura’s two faced second in command Amatsu will not let the mother see her son…

Two childhood friends find themselves caught in the midst of an all-out turf war between rival factions in the yakuza-stained region of Kyushu.

Tsunetaro Asakura AKA "Dynamite Tsune" is a talented gambler, but not infallable. After losing his Boss's money in a dice game he repays his debt by serving as a pit boss for a struggling coal mine in Kyuushu. Quickly there's trouble with the local mining competition, who doesn't always play a fair game. True to his hot-headed nickname, Tsune only gets into deeper trouble.

When a large crime syndicate seeks to invade Gifu's underworld, three brothers and their yakuza family are the only ones that stand in their way.

Shigeo is released from prison and immediately beaten up by some old associates, which results in him losing his memory. Kasumi, who just by chance happens to be the manager of a band, takes him in and discovers his talent for singing.

The first film about Kiriko - a blind woman with a sword.

In 1947, in Kobe, Japan, a local street gang fights for their survival when its turf is overrun by United States occupation forces and international gangs.

No description available.

No description available.

When Omuro Yahachi of the Omuro family is selected as Mutsumikai Soke's successor, the conflict between the Kitakyushu and Wakamatsu begins.

The eighth installment in the popular film series starring Tomisaburo Wakayama. Embarrassed by the chairman of the Seiyu-kai for not having a family crest, Seikichi Shimamura sets out with his henchmen on a journey to acquire the crest of a local bankrupt family. The local Iwahashi clan and the fishermen fought over the construction of the industrial complex, but when Seikichi learned that the Seiyu-kai was behind the Iwahashi clan, he sided with the fishermen...

An honorable yakuza syndicate deeply rooted in Kyoto fights for survival when a new breed of gangsters threaten their very existence.

The second part of the Gamblers series.

A lone wolf tries to eliminate a drug-smuggling operation.

A crime film released in 1965

A gang plans to steal twenty billion yen by safecracking tactics; however, they discover that one of the gang members is an infiltrating cop.

Daigoro Koiwa and Katsuo Rokujo, who met by chance, open a recession-resistant funeral business and a urinary treatment business, and put it on track, but each time, they are caught in the ploy of a money lender, Sumitomo Mitsui, who works a scam, and take over the management rights, and they are taken away, and they are satisfied with the employees of Toyo Kogyo led by Mitsui. Mitsui, who embarked on a multi-corner management, acquired the rights to the long-awaited cabaret "Ryokumiya" and led the store to a great prosperity by introducing the limited service "Jungle Bump". However, due to the informant of Yamawaki Kogyo, which runs a rival store, 'Ryokumiya' was suspended from business, and hostesses and boys were pulled out one after another.

Even after turning 30, Matsutaro Tokuda is still single and spends his days driving a white taxi. He likes to gamble, although he doesn't have a talent for it. However, there was a woman that fell in love with such a man...

Japanese crime film.

Gangsters are robbed of five hundred million yen.

Part two.

No description available.

After the enactment of the Anti-Prostitution Law, the red-light district in Shinjuku lost its allure. Even the gambling den of the Ryūzaki family was always deserted. Ryūzaki, the boss, declared his retirement in response to the changing times. It was thought that Igarashi, who valued righteousness and principles and had the respect of others, would become the second-in-command. However, he was an annoying presence to Ryūzaki...

Ninkyo with Hideki Takahashi.

Saburo Kitajima, one of Japan’s most famous Enka singers, returns in the fifth of the Kyodai Jingi series. During the early 20th century, Ryuji from Asakusa, a wandering yakuza, joins the Narumi Family in Yokohama. However, when he confronts Shiotaro, the head of the rival family, Ryuji takes a liking to him. He ends up leaving his current family, and becomes close to Shiotaro like brothers swearing to become a full-fledged yakuza.

Echizen Fukui Domain. Futago Rokubei, who backs down even at the sight of a gecko, is called "Coward Samurai" by others. His sister Kane blames him for not having any marriage proposals. One day, the lord's martial arts instructor, Nito Kouken, kills one of the lord's attendants, Kano, and flees, leading the angry lord to issue an order to kill him. However, there is no one in the domain who can match the swordsmanship of Nito. Rokubei, in order to clear his long-standing dishonor, volunteers to be the one to kill Nito and sets out on the journey, leaving behind Kane who tries to stop him in tears.